Why Everyone Should Get Regular Tire Rotations
It’s easy to overlook your vehicle’s tires if everything seems to be going well, but it’s a good idea to keep up on tire maintenance – especially as cold weather approaches. Basic maintenance steps like tire rotations can do a lot to extend the lifespan of your tires, as well as improve the handling and stability of your ride.
Why are tire rotations so important? Let’s take a look…
What Do Tire Rotations Do?
The basic idea behind tire rotations is simple. No matter how well-aligned your tires are, your wheels aren’t going to wear 100% evenly. Some parts of the wheel will take more damage than others, and this is in part due to their position on the car. Also, front-axle tires typically wear down faster than rear-axle tires.
So, tire rotation takes the wheels off your car and moves them all around to different positions. This allows them to wear more evenly.
There are a few benefits to this:
- Longer tire lifespan. By allowing them to wear evenly, the tires will last longer overall – and that saves you money by delaying how often you have to replace them.
- Fewer blowouts. Tires will be weakest in the places where they’re most worn down, so rotating them also helps prevent blowouts and accidents on the road.
- Smoother drive. As your tires wear, they’ll start to shimmy or cause other traction and handling problems. Tire rotation helps prevent this.
Plus, tire rotations are cheap. In fact, some shops even offer free tire rotations to customers.
What’s The Difference Between Tire Rotation, Alignment, and Balancing?
Tire rotation, alignment, and balancing are three different types of tire maintenance – although they’re all inexpensive ways to improve your drive and your tires’ lifespan.
Tire Rotation, as mentioned, moves the tires around on your vehicle to spread out wear.
Wheel Alignment deals with how the wheels are aimed. They should be perfectly parallel to each other on the axle, and perfectly perpendicular to the road. Even tiny deviations will create traction issues, vibrations, and other handling problems.
Wheel Balancing is what it sounds like. For the smoothest rotation, tires should be perfectly balanced all around. Occasionally small weights may be needed if the tires are off-balance. Otherwise, you can get a rougher ride, and they’ll wear unevenly as well.
More advanced tire shops also offer road force balancing,which accounts for how wheels will deform when they’re actually on the road, holding up the full weight of your vehicle. This is a better form of wheel balancing that maximizes driving stability.
Don’t Procrastinate on Tire Rotation
While it may not seem as important as an oil change to many, as you just read, tire rotation and maintenance are vital for not only your vehicle’s performance but for your safety as well. You should never put off and procrastinate getting a tire rotation, especially if winter hits – depending on where you live, road and driving conditions can be hazardous during the winter months.
So, be sure to seek out a professional tire center or shop for the very best in tire services and advice.
